Voter ID's Worst Enemy: Houston Lawyer Who Stopped the Law Twice on How He Did It
Houston lawyer Chad Dunn has twice prevented Texas from implementing one of the strictest voter ID laws in the nation. He tells the Texas Lawyer how he pullled it off.
August 24, 2017 at 03:00 PM
4 minute read
Houston lawyer Chad Dunn has twice prevented Texas from implementing one of the strictest voter ID laws in the nation. Just this week, he convinced a federal judge for the second time the Texas Legislature passed those laws with a 'discriminatory purpose' to keep Hispanic and African-Americans away from the voting booth. Dunn, who represents the plaintiffs opposed to the laws in Veasey v. Abbott, spoke with Texas Lawyer about how he convinced the court to strike down the state's latest attempt at a voter ID law, what may happen on appeal, and whether the U.S. Supreme Court will finally have to consider Texas' law on its merits to put the issue to rest.
Texas Lawyer: For the second time, U.S. District Judge Nelva Ramos has given you exactly what you wanted by declaring that Texas' Voter I.D. is discriminatory — specifically that the Texas Legislature passed it to discriminate against Hispanics and African Americans. What was your strongest evidence that prompted this ruling?
Chad Dunn: Texas engaged in what we call picking and choosing. When they picked which IDs would be allowed, they selected IDs that were disproportionately held by whites. Other reliable government-issued IDs that were held more often by Latinos and African-Americans were not included. Even in the latest bill they rushed through, some of the so-called fixes they added to the ID requirements benefited whites disproportionately. Then, the legislature appropriated no new money for a voter education campaign under either S.B. 14 or the new S.B. 5 bill. Legislative leaders were told the bill would disproportionately harm minority voters and they ran past practically every legislative rule of procedure to jam the bill through. The evidence offered took weeks to present and was overwhelming.
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